Israeli settlers have set olive trees in the West Bank village of Burin on fire, in another attempt to target a key product of the Palestinian economy.

On Friday, settlers torched the trees and later Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition at the fire trucks attempting to reach the scene, witnesses said.

The Palestinian Authority affairs official Ghassan Doughlas explained that the fire raged throughout the day as firefighters were unable to arrive at the scene, Ma'an News Agency reported.

Witnesses further said that the clashes between Israelis and the villagers erupted as the Israeli soldiers began firing rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military said the soldiers had only used “regular riot dispersal means” to put an end to the clashes, stressing that they had not used live ammunition.

Israeli settlers have on many occasions targeted Palestinian olive trees. Olive oil is regarded as the backbone of the Palestinian economy since it is the second major export item in the occupied territories.

Approximately 10,000 olive trees are planted annually by Palestinian farmers in the occupied territories.

Dozens were injured and several more arrested in violent clashes that followed an Israeli occupation forces’ crackdown on fresh West Bank rallies on Friday.

In Al-Ma'sara near Ramallah, IOF soldiers fired tear gas at a weekly peaceful protest causing several injuries and bruises. A rally organizer also sustained fractures in his ribs after he was pommelled by the soldiers.

The same day, sources said several participants were physically assaulted and arrested in IOF attacks in Nabi Saleh. Among them were a photojournalist and three pro-Palestinian activists from abroad.

Elsewhere, dozens of protesters sustained breathing difficulties as IOF soldiers used tear gas to suppress marches in Bil'in, Ni'lin, and Kafr Qadoum. The Israeli army has confirmed that one of its soldiers sustained minor injuries after being hit by a stone hurled at him in Bil'in.

Meanwhile, violent clashes erupted in Burin south of Nablus later that evening after Jewish settlers set fire to Palestinian olive groves.

The settlers also opened gunfire on firefighters who arrived at the scene.

IOF soldiers fired live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, and tear gas at the Palestinians after the clashes took place.

Israeli settlers from the illegal outpost of Havat Maon, south of Hebron, attacked two international observers on Wednesday, hitting one on the head with an iron bar.

"At approximately 9:15 AM on July 27, 2011, masked settlers from the Havat Maon outpost armed with stones and an iron bar harassed three Palestinian shepherds and attacked two international observers. The settlers threw stones at the internationals, and hit one of them in the head with an iron bar," a statement by the Christian Peacemakers Team said.

"The Palestinian shepherds were out with their flocks on Palestinian land near Mesheha hill when the four masked settlers attacked them. The shepherds were able to leave the area, but the settlers attacked the internationals.

"One of the internationals was a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, the other was visiting the area. The settlers destroyed the CPTer's camera and chased them both back to At-Tuwani. The CPTer went to the hospital and received 8 stitches."

Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove have documented 6 occasions since June 22, 2011 in which settlers from Havat Maon have attacked Palestinians or internationals near Mesheha Hill, the statement added.

Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.

Havat Maon is also considered illegal under Israeli law, as are several outposts in the West Bank.

A report by the Palestinian Authority found that settler violence increased "dramatically" in June 2011, documenting 139 attacks in the West Bank and the destruction of over 3,600 olive trees and vineyards.

A group of Jewish settlers from the Itamar settlement, which is built on confiscated Palestinian land to near Nablus in the northern West Bank, on Thursday set fire to Palestinian crops and olive groves in lands belonging to the residents of the village of Awarta to the east of Nablus.

The Awarta village council said in a statement that settlers set fire to fields in the north east of the village resulting in the burning of seven dunums (1 dunum= 1000 square meters) of producing olive trees.

The council added that civil defence teams from nearby Bourin village helped tackle the fire which resulted in great loss to Palestinian farmers.

28 juli 2011

Jewish settlers confiscate hundreds of dunums in Sa'ir area

Jewish settlers have released hounds on Palestinians who stepped foot on land that was taken from them to build the Asfar settlement on the Sa'ir area east of Al-Khalil city, Palestinian sources have said.

The settlers have been carrying out excavations there on farmlands owned by the Shalalida and Halayka families, the sources added.

In two years, the settlers managed to usurp more than 200 dunums (49.4 acres ) of land under the nose of the media and Palestinian officials.

The Shalalidas and Halaykas say they have deeds registered at the Palestinian property department proving their ownership of the land.

The same sources said the landowners have been visiting the confiscated land daily in a bid to foil the excavations, but they have been exposed to attacks and expulsion by the settlers under protection of Israeli military forces.

The families are planning on filing petitions against the army and the settlers with local and international courts.

The Asfar settlement was built on land belonging to several Palestinian families in the early 1980s.

Hundreds of Jewish settlers storm Nabi Yusuf tomb

Hundreds of Jewish settlers stormed the Nabi Yusuf tomb east of Nablus before dawn Thursday under heavy Israeli troop protection and offered rituals.

Eyewitnesses said that the settlers arrived in 16 buses and left after dawn after clashing with Palestinian youths from nearby Askar and Balata refugee camps.

The young men closed roads in the area, burnt tires, and threw stones at the intruders while the Israeli occupation forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at the youth.

When an Israeli reader sent this story to me I couldn’t believe the headline summarized above. Further, in this day and age of Norwegian neo-Nazi, anti-jihadi attacks which wrap themselves in the Israeli flag, this story is simply mind-blowing.It begins with a visit from a Russian neo-Nazi delegation to Israel. Under the auspices of Tuvia Lerner, editor of the Russian edition of Arutz 7, the media voice of the settler movement, they inveigled themselves an invitation to meet with far-right MKs Aryeh Eldad and Ayoob Kara. They also toured Yad VaShem without telling anyone there that they were Holocaust deniers. Like I told you, this story has to be read to be believed. The two Russians have been photographed giving Nazi salutes, celebrating Der Fuhrer’s birthday, and they published songs of praise to Adoph Hitler on their website.

Naturally, when they met with the MKs the ideas they espoused were quite different. One of the neo-Nazis told Israeli TV that the concept of Israel “excites me,” because it involves “an ancient people who took upon itself a pioneer project to revive a modern state and nation.” The TV reporter tartly asked how the neo-Nazi of yesterday suddenly became a Zionist. How they did it, is by finding a common enemy: Islam (sound familiar?). The second neo-Nazi tells the interviewer:

“We’re talking about radical Islam which is the enemy of humanity, enemy of democracy, enemy of progress and of any sane society.

With friends like this does Israel need enemies? Does it wish to lie down with dogs who kill Chechens and Africans for sport only to rise up with fleas? Who assassinate human rights activists and lawyers? Who dream of a master race following its destiny? Is Israel so desperate that it needs such friends in order to battle the common Muslim enemy? Have we not learned a single thing from Anders Breivik?

Lerner attempts to defend his efforts to ingratiate the Russian fascist movement into the good graces of Israeli society by claiming that the two neo-Nazis told him they regretted the anti-Semitic statements they’d made fifteen years ago. But can the leopard changes its spots?? The reporter notes that in just the past year the group wrote that the Holocaust was “a myth.” Then he asks whether the apology was sincere and whether such figures belonged in a place in which the elected representatives of the nation gathered.

The report also features an interview with Eldad in which he feigns an intelligence he clearly lacks, when he says that he knew from the outset that something “didn’t smell right.” And that he met them for only a few minutes (when the TV screen fills with images of him shaking hands and laughing jovially with the Russian delegation).

Anyone reading this blog knows my views about settler extremists, but how can Israel countenance such shocking, disgraceful acts from Arutz 7 and these disgusting representatives of the Israeli people elected to the Knesset? Is anyone using their brains there? Or has everyone lost their senses? Regaling neo-Nazis with anti-jihadi jokes in the halls of the Knesset? Defiling Yad VaShem with unreconstructed Holocaust deniers? Please someone explain this to me (if you can).

The 19- year- old Palestinian, Renad Mshl Tuesday lost the ability to speak after she was attacked by Jewish Settlers while she was on her way to her house in Beit Rima, a village south of Ramallah.

Awad Mshl, an eyewitness said that Jewish Settlers from Halmish, a settlement north west of Ramallah attacked the car she was travelling in accompanied by two other Palestinian females, 22, 24, broke its glass and pointed the gun at them.

The trauma of the attack caused Renad Mslh to lose the ability to speak. The two other girls were injured due to the flying glass, witnesses said.

Jewish settlers attacked the village of Nabi Saleh on Monday night under protection of the Israeli occupation forces and engaged in confrontations with young men.

Local sources said that settlers roamed the main street between the village and the settlement of Halmish and threw stones and bottles on Arab cars passing by causing damage to a number of them. The sources noted that the IOF soldiers saw the attacks and did nothing to stop them.

The confrontations that continued till a late hour on Monday night caused tens of injuries among the inhabitants of the village mostly women after their homes were the target of teargas attacks, the sources said, noting that a 75-year-old woman was among the casualties.

25 juli 2011Jewish settlers torch tens of dunums of Palestinian land

Jewish settlers set on fire tens of dunums of Palestinian agricultural land in Surra village, west of Nablus city, on Monday.

Israeli occupation forces, for their part, fired teargas and stun grenades at activists who came to protect the farmers, eyewitnesses said, adding that the activists were Jews.

Jewish settlers have targeted numerous Palestinian cultivated land lots recently especially in villages south of Nablus.

Israel's government is on course for a major clash with Israeli settlers in the West Bank as a court deadline to destroy three homes built without permission is set to expire, reports say.

The Independent newspaper reported Saturday that Israel's high court last month ordered the destruction of three permanent dwellings in Migron, near Ramallah within 45 days.

The outpost contains 48 families mostly living in caravans.

The dwellings were built illegally on land owned by Palestinians. If the government complies, it will be the first time Israel has destroyed permanent settler buildings since 2006, the London-based daily reported.

Jewish settlers returned to the evacuated settlement of Homesh, south of Jenin city, at dawn Friday and offered Talmudic rituals, as Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrived to the scene to provide protection for them.

Local sources said that the settlers spread in the olive groves between Burqa and Seelat Al-Dhaher villages.

Herds of settlers routinely storm the same area during which they attack Palestinian civilian property ever since Homesh was evacuated in 2005.

The IOF troops at dawn Friday stormed the Yamun village, west of Jenin city, and combed the area between it and Burkin village and intercepted farmers while on their sway to tend to their fields.

A group of Israeli settlers torched agricultural fields on Friday near the village of Burin in the West Bank city of Nablus.

“Some settlers from the Yizhar settlement adjacent to the village set fire to the area south of the village and fled the scene,” Head of Burin village council Ali Ead told Ma'an.

“The fire had erupted in wide areas of fields planted with olive trees.”

Hundreds of residents in the village arrived at the scene and helped extinguish the fire.

An almost identical attack took place one week ago as settlers from Yizhar set fire to dozens of dunams of Palestinian land.

The latest attack by settlers comes amid a string of violent incidents in the occupied West Bank.

On Monday, settlers attacked a group of international observers near Hebron, the fifth such case of settler violence against internationals in the area over the last 30 days.

Also on Monday, settlers attacked three Palestinian shepherds near Jerusalem, causing serious injuries.

On Friday July 15, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Yizhar set fire to Palestinian land near the village of Burin, south of Nablus.

Two days earlier, a Palestinian teenager sustained bruises after Israeli settlers pelted his car with stones near the site of the former Israeli settlement of Homesh, which was evacuated in 2005.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.

A report by the Palestinian Authority found that settler violence increased "dramatically" in June 2011, documenting 139 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and the destruction of over 3,600 olive trees and vineyards.

An Israeli army general recently warned that unchecked settler "terror" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank threatens to plunge the territory into conflict, reports said.

The same morning, Israeli occupation forces also raided the city's Ras al-Joreh district at dawn and set up several checkpoints throughout the city.

Meanwhile, locals reported that an IOF aerial force including two planes and a helicopter carried out an airdrop drill on the slopes of a mountain overlooking Toubas in the northern Jordan Valley.

Palestinians said that other forces stormed villages east of Jenin without raiding the homes of civilians.

In a separate incident, a father and son were arrested in a wide-ranging search raid carried out in Talouza village in the northeast part of Nablus province. A number of houses were searched, and a gold craft worth 3,000 Jordanian dinars was stolen during the operation.

Some thirty military vehicles entered the village at 2am, locals said. The force searched around thirty homes in different corners of the village.

In one violent raid, a woman fell unconscious and was transported to a hospital in Nablus.

The force also raided an area between Talouza and Useira.

Search operations in that area have been ongoing since early morning.

Rightists stress importance of access to holy sites

A group associated with the Hilltop Youth commented on the meeting between Judea and Samaria Division Commander Nitzan Alon and Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv Tuesday.

"We hope the meeting will make IDF commanders realize the importance of the holy sites in Judea and Samaria and the importance of free access to Jews," the group said.

Three settlers from the illegal Havat Maon settlement south of Hebron attacked a group of internationals on Monday in the Meshakna valley, a Christian peace group said.

"Around 6.35 p.m. three settlers attacked two members of Operation Dove and one member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams with clubs and stones in the Meshakha valley outside of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills," a CPT statement said.

"The settlers were observed coming out of the outpost of Havat Maon covering their faces with scarves then running with clubs in their hands toward two Palestinian shepherds who were grazing their sheep in a valley nearby.

"The masked settlers could not catch the shepherds who were alerted of the approaching danger. The attackers then turned and ran toward the internationals who entered the valley to intervene and document the attack.

"Three young masked settlers armed with clubs made threats and then attempted to strike the internationals as they filmed their actions. As the internationals retreated the settlers begin throwing stones narrowly missing their targets. No internationals were injured at the end."

This is the fifth case of settler violence from the outpost of Havat Maon against internationals and Palestinians in the last 30 days, the statement added.

Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.

Havat Maon is also considered illegal under Israeli law, as are several outposts in the West Bank.

A report by the Palestinian Authority found that settler violence increased "dramatically" in June 2011, documenting 139 attacks in the West Bank and the destruction of over 3,600 olive trees and vineyards.

According to Israeli Daily Haaretz, Israel’s Housing Ministry has authorized the construction of 350 settlement housing units in the West Bank and around the city of Jerusalem/ al Quds.

Spokesman for the Housing Ministry, Ariel Rosenberg revealed that the new construction was part of a wider plan to build another 7,000 homes. According to Haaretz, the Housing Ministry linked the new construction to a nationwide plan to lower housing prices, which have skyrocketed in recent years, and appease protesters demanding affordable living space.

In response, the Palestinian Authority condemned the construction of new settlement units. Palestinian Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdeineh, strongly condemned the new Israeli settlement construction decision inside the West Bank. Abu Rdeineh said that this is another reason that calls on

us to head to the UN and the Security Council to seek UN recognition of the state of Palestine.